Improvement in skates



tnitizi tattrs @anni @ffice Letters Patevit N'o. 75,453, dated April 7,1868.

IMPROVEMENT 'IN SKA'TES.`

p ritt tlgetnle nicht it in ilgtst Etnias glatent ttt mating pini tftige stmt.

'ro-,ALL WHoM 1T MAY ooNonnN:

Be it known that LJAMES HOLLAND, of Brooklyn, No. 65 Fulton street, inthe countyof Kings, and in the State of New York, have invented a newand useful Improvement in Skates; and I dio-hereby declare that thefollowing is afull, clear, and exact description thereof, which willenable those skilled Ain the art to make :1nd use the same, referencebeing had to the accompanying' drawing, forming part of thisspecification,- in which drawing- Figure 1 is a longitudinal section ofa skate containing my improvement.

Figure 2 is au under side view. i

Figure 3 is a top View of lever e detached.

Figure 4 is an under side viev.r of plate-f, showing the pins or arms p,which raise said plate.

Similar letters indicate corresponding parts. l

This invention relates to fasteningvor securing the skate to the footofthe skater, and consists, among other things, in a sliding dog orclamp, which is moved lengthwise of the skate by means of a lever.

The letter a designates the runner, and the letter b designates thefoot-plate. The foot-plate has a longitudinal slot, c,in the s hank, inwhich slot a slidingdog, L, is held Ain such a manner that it can hemoved back and forth, as required. The heel of the foot-plate hastwo'iixed dogs j, only one of which isseen in fig. 1, but the places Vofboth are indicatedy by dotted outlines in fig. 2. The said fixed dogsare so arranged as to come against the outside oftheheel of the boot orshoe of the skater, and they, as well as the movable dog, are providedwith teeth, which hold the heel and prevent it from slipping or movingaway from the dogs.

l The body'of the movable dog z has on its sides grooves, which receivethe edges'of the slotf,l in such a. manner asto allow the dog to bemoved.` backward and forward, when it is required to fasten or nnfastenthe skate.A From the under side of the body of the dog i projects ahea-ded pin, 7c, which, in this example, is also usedto unite to eachother the, plat-esv that compose the body of the dog 7L. Said pin .7cworks in a curved eccentric-slot, n, formed in the end of a lever, e,which is secured to a movable fulcrum, which slides in the same slot cin which the dog t moves. The lever e is beneath the foot-plate, andparallel therewith, and to its for ward end is attached a strap, o,which goes around the instep of the skater, and is secured in anyconvenient manner, after the dog 7L has been moved up against the inneredge of the heel.

The movable fulcrum on which the lever eturns, consists of a plate, f,arranged forward of the dog h; its' edges, which are toothed orcorrugated, as seen in fig. l, overlapping the edges of the slot c, theforward portion of which has its edges also toothed or corrugated,'toenable the plate f to become locked to the foot-plate at certain times,as Ahereinafter explained. The plate f is kept in place over the slot bymeans of its bent ends g 'g, which are turned downward atright anglesinto said slot c, so as to guide the plate f in its movements.

k Thezlever e is connected to plate f by a pin, m, about which it-movesin horizontal directions. That side of the lever which is toward thefoot-plate b, has a straight ridge or cam, l, which extends across thehub ofthe lever, and which ridge is ofis'uch a width that it 'will dtwithin` slot when the lever is so-turned as tc bring the l ridge in thesame straight line with said slot, at whichtime the p'in k will be atthat part of the eccentric-slot rt which is nearest to the centre ofmotion m of lever e, and the movable dog k, which is moved backward andforward by thevibration of said lever, will have been drawn out ofengagement with the heel. The connection of lever e and platef, byrneans of the pin m, is such that, when the ridge 1,' coincides with theslot c, the plate f can be lifted high enough to disengage its teeth'from the teeth on the foot-plate, and allow the lever Z and platef, withthe dog h, to be moved along'slot c, backward or forward. l

The ridge z' is brought into coincidence with slot c when the skate isabout to be fastened to the foot, in order to allow the movable dog h tobe-shoved backward until its teeth comein contact with the forward partor inside of the heel, when, by turning the lever on its pin at, theridge t is brought across the slot, and the plate fis thereby drawndownward, solas to cause its teeth to interlock with the teeth on thefoot-plate, and hold the said plate f-stationary. The lever e beingturned still further around, the dog h, through the action of the curvedslot n-on the pin k, is driven with force against the heel, and'itsteeth made to penetrate it to a greater or less.degree, so as to lockthe skate firmly thereto; the lever e being kept in that position bymeans of the strap o, which is taken around the loot, and fastened inany convenient manner, by a buckle or otherwise. The strap o serves tohold the lever e in the position to which it was brought in driving thedog aga-inst the heel` and also tozdruwv thcfron't l'part of the skatesnugly np Ato the bottom of the foot; the lever e being made of asuitable length for-this purpose When the skate is to be taken oil', thestrap o is undone, the lever e is turned until its ridge Z coincideswith the slot e, when the lever, with the dog L and fulcrum-'platejl canybe moved forward, and the heel freed from contact with the dog. v i v-I raise the loc'king-plntefupward, so as to free its notches from theteeth d of the foot-plate, by means of pins or arms pp, with bevelleclends, which project from opposite sides ofthe screw m under platef, andwhich arms p are so arranged that, when the ridge z' coincideswith slotc, they also coincide or are in line .with it; but when lever e isturned, so as to bring its ridgeA diagonal to slot c, the bevelled endsAof said arinsmount upon `the edges of slot cand thereby raiseplatefabove the foot-plate, high enough to disengage their teeth o1'corrugntions, 'whereby plate f and lever e are made free to be movedlengthwise in slot c. When they have been moved far enough tobring dog hagainst the heel, the lever e is turned, and the arms Vp slide oil' thefoot-plate, the platef drops, so as to bring its teeth into engagementwith those of the foot-plate, when it becomes locked in-position by thediagonal position taken' by .ridge z', and the continued movement oflever e drives the dog A ito close contact with the heel. g

Instead of thepins or arms pp, a spring may be applied Vto thelocking-plate f, so` that,'by the action of said spring, thelockingsplate `will^ be thrown out of gear with the teeth on the frontplate as soon as the lever 54":

is turned hack.

What'I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is v 1. Thelever@ and movable dog h, in combination with the movable fulcr'um f,substantially as described, 2. The movable dog h and movablefnlcrum-pla-tef, in combination with the slot c, substantially as shown.3. The ridge z' on the levere, arranged substantially as shown, to drawthe fulcrum-plate down on the foots plate, substantially as described.

4. The combination, substantially as described, of the lever e, themovable dog h, and the strap o.. f 5. The arms p, arranged on screw. orfulcrumpn m, for the purposeof raising the plate f free from con tactwith the foot-plate, substantially as'described.

' l JAMES HOLLAND.

Witnesses:

W. HAUFF, WM. TREWIN.

